The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. Although countless vice-presidents were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unidentified planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it presently."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his domain? This represents a effective way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his previous salary while military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
